The Wild beat my Islanders. Blasphemy!

Funny thing, but after tonight’s game, the NHL tested out the huge STANLEY CUP FINAL AND STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS signs in the middle of the ice to test for TV. It looked pretty out of place.

The Isles are a shell of my former favorite team, but you know what, the Islanders are ravaged with injuries and clearly have to hit rock bottom to get a couple top, top draft picks (it should pay off in the long run). Plus, the cast of minor-leaguers on the ice who have little to play for but future jobs showed some heart.

Coach Jacques Lemaire wasn’t exactly enamored with the way they played, saying they tried to “run us out of the building,” and went after their skilled guys like Bouchard and Miettinen and Zidlicky. Lemaire said it’ll be interesting what’ll happen when the Wild plays the Islanders again next year and a lot of Isles were “brave.”

The guy running around the most was one of ours — former Gopher and St. Paul native, Kyle Okposo. Okposo was a slashing, cross-checking machine tonight. He must be taking pointers from teammate Brendan Witt, who’s made his entire living cross-checking and slashing people.

In the third, after Okposo tried to remove Zidlicky’s kidneys, Clutterbuck and Okposo were having an unbelievable barking match from penalty box to penalty box. Then Clutterbuck started gesturing. I thought he was pretending to wipe tears or something. After the game, I asked Clutterbuck what he was doing and he said, “Told him to shave his neck. I told him if he can’t grow it on the rest of his face, why try at all?” 

Clutterbuck, by the way, had seven hits and now has 317, the most-ever recorded by the NHL in the short period it’s been recording the subjective stat.

Marian Gaborik — awesome. Two goals, two assists, best player on the ice. Gaborik’s known for lethal speed, a lethal wrister. Well, all six of his goals this season are from the goalmouth. “He’s taking notes, I guess,” quipped Owen Nolan.

Nolan scored a goal and two assists. So did Andrew Brunette. Marek Zidlicky, whom I’ve picked on lately, was great, and not just because of his three assists. Antti Miettinen and Martin Skoula scored goals as well.

Wild’s back to 10th in the West, tied with 78 points with ninth-place Nashville. Anaheim’s about to hop into seventh, meaning the Wild will be one point from eighth-place Edmonton, which has a game in hand on Minnesota.

Needless to say, you know which opponent — and where — the Wild plays next. The Wild’s won like once in Calgary since the FIRST Bush administration, so let’s just say, that needs to end. Huge back-to-back in Alberta coming up for your Minnesota Wild.

OK, read the gamer and notebook in Thursday’s paper. Some funny stuff in there. I especially liked Jacques Lemaire talking about tonight’s 3-on-3 action, saying he was “like numb,” and Clutterbuck talking about his fight with Sean Avery.

Back to Minnesota for not even 24 hours for me tomorrow, then off to Calgary.

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Wild down to 11th in the West after, predictably, the eighth- and ninth-place teams in the conference played to a shootout (Anaheim won to keep the Wild two points out) and St. Louis won to overtake the Wild for 10th.

The Wild just didn’t create a whole lot tonight (outshot 30-19), but in the end, if Marian Gaborik buries the partial breakaway or Dan Fritsche doesn’t redirect the puck wide on the 2-on-1 or Owen Nolan, after skating around Paul Mara, beats Henrik Lundqvist or Eric Belanger buries the 3-on-2 or Cal Clutterbuck can score on that late scramble, it’s a tie game.

But there’s no what-if’s anymore, not when the season’s quickly evaporating and the Wild lacks such go-to guys right now with the injuries to Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns. The Wild has missed the spark Burns provides for some time. But tonight, you really saw how much Koivu’s absence kills. Not just the 22 minutes a night he plays — “and not just 22 minutes of skating around,” said James Sheppard — but the big minutes. Any big faceoff tonight, the Wild didn’t have a prayer, losing 64 percent of their draws in the game and 29 of 40 through two periods.

That’s not just a stat, folks. It’s an oh-so important stat because it usually indicates puck possession, and the Rangers are a puck-control team that forechecks the heck out of it when they have the puck. And tonight, they usually had the puck.

Marian Gaborik looked real good. He scored his first goal since Dec. 23 and had five shots and four hits. In fact, the Rangers nearly lost their mind when Gaborik clocked Markus Naslund in the second. Also a couple big scraps between Cal Clutterbuck and Sean Avery, and Owen Nolan and Colton Orr.

But in the end, the Wild was a goal short. It’s just a punchless team right now minus some very big players. It’ll be very difficult — or impossible — to overcome.

Penalties really hurt tonight, especially Antti Miettinen’s offensive-zone interference penalty to negate Colton Orr’s first-period rough. That led to Nikolai Zherdev’s sweet goal with 4.4 seconds left in the period. My favorite was Marek Zidlicky getting away with a blatant two-handed slash aimed at Nik Antropov’s stick, then reacting to getting away with it by sawing Antropov’s stick in half. Kind of like when Zidlicky got away with the cross-check in St. Louis and reacted by shooting the puck in the stands, leading to 2 5-on-3 goals. Or when Zidlicky …

Scary moment tonight in the first period when Kurtis Foster’s left leg — the repaired one — gave out from under him going in the corner. Referee Chris Rooney then skated over him, and Rooney’s skate accidentally hit Foster in the head. But Foster was OK and stayed in the game.

Talk to you tomorrow morning.

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 I keep a running log of game notes on my computer when I’m here at Xcel Energy Center. I typed exactly this when a member of the Wild PR staff came around to say Mikko Koivu was out with a knee injury:

“9 out with knee inj. Ut oh.”

This is not a “lower body” injury as the Wild loves to use when it wants to get none too specific about an injury to a player. This is an all-out “knee” injury. And you have to wonder that because the team was so quick to reveal just that, how damaging it is.

We asked to speak with assistant GM Tom Lynn today (he generally deals with media on injury stuff) and were told only that the info on Koivu is that he will be reevaluated Monday.

Just the Wild’s luck. It gets Marian Gaborik back, crawls to within one point of a playoff spot with a nice, solid shutout victory over the Oil and now this.

I think the biggest clue that this is something serious for Koivu came from coach Jacques Lemaire. He said of Koivu that “losing him, it’s a huge loss for our team.”

Does that sound like a coach that expects a 62-point scorer to return anytime soon?

The danger in all this speculation is that it’s purely guessing right now. So perhaps I’ll stop there.

As I said, good complete win for the Wild. After the first period, anyway. Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s little backhand shot on Dwayne Roloson with 1:01 left in the first period was just Minnesota’s second shot on goal in the period. I know this was a weekend matinee, but it sure looked like the Wild was stuck in rush hour traffic at the start of this one.

What else? Dan Fritsche and James Sheppard both played great games, assisting on Owen Nolan’s two goals. Fritsche was right there with Nolan in front of the net for the first goal. And how pretty was that pass from Sheppard on Nolan’s second?

How vital will these guys’ play be if indeed Koivu is out? Wait - no more speculation. Got it.

A night after Vancouver scored on its own goal, today Edmonton did it when Tom Gilbert’s attempt at clearing the zone instead clicked off San Gagner’s skate and right on by Roloson. Hopefully this sort of thing is done making its way through the Northwest Division, eh?

OK - enough from me. Until tomorrow, that is. I will be back here at 11am for practice, where we should all get an update on Koivu. Russo is then with you for the four-game road trip back to New Yawk before zooming West.

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OK - let’s get a game thread going.

Marian Gaborik - as expected - is in for this afternoon’s game. So is Derek Boogaard.

Colton Gillies, Craig Weller, Brent Burns, Peter Olvecky and Marek Zidlicky are out.

No real reaction from the fans when No. 10 took the ice for warm-ups. But then again, there’s a good bit of heavy metal music blaring through the speakers. So we’ll wait and see how the reaction REALLY is when he takes the ice for his first shift.

UPDATE: Gaborik will start, playing on a line with Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen

Big game for the Wild - to say the least. Puck drops just after 2pm.

Tonight was a battle between two teams going in opposite directions — one, New Jersey, which is gearing up to potentially make a serious run at winning the Prince of Wales Trophy, and the other — the Wild, which is making a serious run at an early offseason.

Wild dropped from ninth to 12th tonight. Wild is now three from eighth and five from seventh.

We ask all the proper questions, like how is it humanly possible for certain players on this team to be lacking critical focus at certain times in such important games, but the answer is simple really.

The answer’s a hard one, but it’s simple.

The Wild just isn’t good enough, folks. That’s the reality. You don’t lose 10 out of 13 games at this time of year and consider yourself a playoff team. The Wild’s only still in it because the NHL’s points system allows them to be.

But the difference between talent on the ice tonight was astonishing. And when Marek Zidlicky made two mind-boggling mistakes to single-handedly derail tonight’s scoreless game in the second period (see Jacques’ damning quotes in the paper), that was all she wrote for a team that can’t score 5-on-5 — and tonight on seven power plays — against the greatest goalie of all time — or at least my era.

One home game after Martin Brodeur became the NHL’s all-time wins leader, he pulled within two shutouts of Terry Sawchuk’s shutouts mark of 103. Brodeur made 35 saves.

But want to see the difference between the Devils and the Wild? Look at the plus-minuses online Saturday. Or, better yet, just look at the Wild’s minuses. The team hasn’t been able to score 5-on-5 all year, and as I say often — it is what it is. Just not good enough.

A Jacques Lemaire-coached team routinely now falls behind 2-0, 3-0 and 4-0. We’re talking almost every game. There was a time when a Jacques Lemaire-coached team, no matter how undertalented, could keep it tight against the Red Army.

Not anymore. Why? Repeat after me … NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Cute scene in the postgame, but the Wild’s unofficial mascot the past couple years, Ryder Rolston — Brian’s oldest (probably 6 by now) – stood in the Wild locker room with a hat and got autographs from the Wild on a No. 12 Wild hat. He kept telling players how much he missed them and how “great it is to see” them and how “this was a treat.” It was pretty cool.

OK, Stensaas on all weekend. I am staying in New York to meet the team when it returns Monday night. By the way, if you get XM Radio or the NHL Network, I will make an in-studio appearance during the second hour after noon CDT on Monday.

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Ready for this zoolike standings look? You need to be a mathematician to figure it out. And I can’t believe I stayed at this arena til midnight for last game to end. It’s not like it’s Game 82. It’s game 70.

Nashville was idle with 75 points. Edmonton just beat St. Louis in a shootout, so it now has 75 points. The Oilers have played one less game than Nashville, so they’re seventh and the Preds eighth.

So Dallas loses in regulation, so it has an amazingly identical 33-29-8 record as the Wild. After wins, next tiebreaker is head-to-head. Wild is 0-2-1 against Dallas, so Wild is behind Dallas, which fell to ninth. The Wild’s 10th — one point back of a playoff spot.

Behind is 11th place St. Louis with 73 points. Get this though, if St. Louis had won, it would have had a 33-29-8 record, too, and there would have been four teams with 74 points. By the way, Wild is 1-3 against St. Louis.

These tiebreakers could really come back to haunt the Wild. Only way to control its own destiny is to keep winning.

Anyway, onto tonight’s excitement. Amazing how a victorious outcome can make you change the way you probably felt about this game during it, eh?

Even Mikko Koivu said this was one of the most aggravating games he’s played in. Puck was bouncing. Lots of whistles. Colorado collapsed five guys down low and seemed to block every shot. Take that late third-period power play by the Wild. The Wild had four shots blocked, which also forced guys to try to shoot wide. In fact, the Avs blocked 25 shots, and Kurtis Foster and Marc-Andre Bergeron had 11 blocked themselves.

And of course, the Wild had another one of those mid-game depressions when they got outshot 15-1 during about an 18-minute stretch.

But of all players, Nick Schultz skated down the left-wing boards and let ‘er rip. The puck soared, nipped Wojtek Wolski’s stick and tie game with 1:46 left in regulation. The Wild figured it had to win in overtime to win; Colorado had mastered the shootout at a league-best 9-1. But Koivu, brushing off a final overtime shift in which he skated with the puck for probably 30 seconds, tied it after Wolski’s goal. Then, Nik Backstrom stopped shootout stars Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos, and the Wild’s shootout specialist — ala Petteri Nummelin – Marek Zidlicky, won it.

Unsung hero of the night? Eric Belanger. Creamed at center ice. Sustained a neck stinger. Sucked it up and winced to his feet. And instead of going to the bench, he stayed in the play. He skated to the blue line and tip-toed the length, twice saving the puck and keeping it onside seconds before Dan Fritsche set up Schultz.

Interesting game:

– Derek Boogaard started for the first time since I can remember, and had three scoring chances by Derek Boogaard standards in the first period. He hasn’t scored since Jan. 2006. It’s coming. I’m telling you. It’s coming!

– Former Gophers captain Derek Peltier made his NHL debut in his hometown (from Plymouth). Ruslan Salei pulled up lame. Peltier was paired with his Lake Erie defense partner, Michael Vernace, who was also making his NHL debut.

Peltier had an hour before his flight here, so he rushed home, got a suit and hurried to the airport. So he didn’t have a chance to call a lot of people.

“I could never imagine that, or ever guess that,” he said. “Being in my home state, and playing in front of my family here and stuff.”

Kurtis Foster also returned to play at home for the first time in exactly one year. He said he was a lot less nervous than he thought he’d be, but he had a full day to prepare rather than 13 minutes, like his recent season debut in L.A. when Brent Burns wasn’t able to play. Foster played 18:21 and had a fluke puck bounce off his head and in for a Cody McLeod goal. It was fitting though. Sure it didn’t feel good for Foster at the time, but bad bounces like that has been the trademark of the Wild season, so Foster might as well get his time to experience it, eh?

Speaking of Burns, he’s going to be awhile. It’s a concussion and the symptoms are still there.

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First of all, the news of the day, but I’ve confirmed through different avenues that left wing Andrew Brunette is playing on at least a partially torn right ACL and maybe a fully torn ACL.

Neither Brunette, nor GM Doug Risebrough, would confirm the exact injury, but both confirmed that Brunette has a major decision to make after the season regarding surgery. You can read the story in Monday’s paper or on the Star Tribune Wild page in a few minutes.

Brunette said he’ll “probably” have it, especially if it’s going to be like this again next season.

You would not believe the things I’m seeing daily from the gutsy Brunette. It is taking a lot to get him to play. When he gets off the buses or moves through the hotels, he can barely walk. It’s taking lots and lots of treatment to get him on the ice, and yet he’s still producing and playing well.

If the Wild goes belly-up here, you just have to wonder if he’s going to shut it down.

And let’s be honest: The Wild’s season is slowly dying.

You can couch it anyway you’d like – and yes, the Wild’s still only a point back from the playoffs – but really, is there any reason to believe the Wild’s suddenly going to discover how to reel off a winning streak?

Not at all, and coach Jacques Lemaire said after tonight’s game that in his mind, Marian Gaborik is not close to returning. We’ll see this week.

Again we can use funny numbers to blur the record, but the reality is, the Wild is facing must-wins every single night and has dropped nine of the past 11 games (2-5-4).

And even though nobody in this playoff bubble has been able to go on a run yet, trust me, it’ll eventually take a winning streak by the Wild to make the playoffs. And like I’ve said ad nauseum, the Wild barely can win these days, let alone win more than two in a row (something it hasn’t accomplished since the middle of November).

The Wild tripped down to 11th, meaning there’s a traffic jam to jump over now.

The players know, too. You can see it on their disappointed faces after the game. So does Lemaire. He looked defeated after the game. And so much for all those games in hand the Wild had the past few months. Funny thing about games in hand, but you’ve got to WIN THEM to matter.

In yet another game, the Wild fell behind 3-0, then 4-1, again tonight. Yet, it showed desperation late like it always does and tried to complete the comeback, but after trimming it to 4-3, it paid for its undisciplined play early in the game.

The Wild gave up three power-play goals to tie a team record (two 5-on-3’s, one 4-on-3). You can read the gamer for details on Cal Clutterbuck and Marek Zidlicky’s costly penalties, but there were ill-timed penalties all night. Even in the first after David Backes scored, the Wild had a glorious chance to tie. But 10 seconds after Brandon Crombeen took a penalty, Marc-Andre Bergeron two-handed Jay McClement to negate the power play.

Just a momentum killer. Then, the parade to the box began in the second. Niklas Backstrom should have stormed off the ice during the whole thing. It was bordering on abuse. When he was yanked, the Wild was being outshot 29-11. At one point, the Wild was being outshot 26-7. The final shot count was 36-22, which shows how the Wild became desperate too late again. Backstrom’s faced more tap-ins recently than I’ve seen all season.

OK, that’s it for me. Papa Stensaas on the Wild for practice Monday as I take a nap.